under the clouds of imaginary numbers
fighting silently
against a monster
Ban'ya Natsuishi. Translated by Ban'ya Natsusihi and Jim Kacian.
under the nitrogen blue sky
the white horse
of my life
Patrick Sweeney
Hi John,
Both poems are so intriguing that I have been returning many times here, but at the end my vote goes for Ban'ya Natsuishi.
under the clouds of imaginary numbers
fighting silently
against a monster
I suspect it has something to do with the characters of Hellsing- some are monsters, some humans, and some turn into a
"a set of imaginary numbers", existing on some level but not in reality. However I am not into manga and I cannot comment from this point of view.
That would be really interesting though! Maybe someone else knows more about it. For the moment, I could imagine my son in a few years- reading a manga, instead of doing a big math homework

What made me vote for the haiku is the comparison of two non-real things: imaginary numbers and monsters. They are both existing only in their relationship with the reality (as we know it). Take the reality out and the non-real things also cease to be. Also I really liked the idea that we need our monsters as we need these imaginary numbers in math.
Wonderful choice of poems, John. I enjoyed them both!
Best,
VIda